


Dreams and other fun nightmares

by Theunderfreak



Category: Original Work, Stuck in another world, dreams - Fandom
Genre: ... - Freeform, ?? - Freeform, A lot - Freeform, Awkward dialog, Die and repeat, Dreams, Lucid Dreaming, Resets, Something about repeating and jumping dreams, Stuck in another world - Freeform, everyone dies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-02-10 23:38:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12922662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theunderfreak/pseuds/Theunderfreak
Summary: Amari is waiting for her break to end so that she can go back to the bake sale at her school. What they do not know is that they are now stuck in a loop of bizarre and strange events and characters, and unless they moved on they won't escape their current dream.





	1. The Dreams begin

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this is somewhat interesting to read, I have written quite a bit of the story so far and I think that this will be one of the few stories that I will actually finish.   
> So far I have 22 planned chapters, but depending on how long or short some are that number might increase or decrease. I know at least one chapter that might have to be split in two, but we will see. I might also get some inspiration that will increase the number of chapters.
> 
> The events that happen are really weird but I would like to know what anyone thinks of it, so feel free to leave a comment or something.  
> I hope it isn't written to awkwardly or become too boring.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dremas begin  
> When the monster first arrive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter has been updated, its mostly only small language changes, to make it flow better (hopefully) and make more sence (hopefully). The only major changes are in the second to last paragpaph, that (The one that starts with " 'Hey.' I turned ").  
> So yah.

I was standing by the school's stairway, lazily looking down at the ground. I was seriously getting bored, they were having a bake sale outside and this was my break from having to stand there being social. A few more minutes passed before I took a deep breath and went outside, to yet again stand behind the baked-goods table.

As I walked outside I saw Matthew, a guy from my Language class jogging around, I gave him a quick wave before he went around the building towards the football fields. I put down my school bag behind the table when I heard an airplane flew over the school, it looked small like a jet, flying low almost as if it was about to go in for a landing. As I followed the plane with my gaze, I saw a man in a green raincoat approaching from the corner of my eye. 

“What can I,” I was about to turn my gaze to the raincoated man, but was interrupted before I could get a good look at him. Matthew was screaming and running back the way he had just jogged passed, his eyes were panicked as he ran.

“Run! They are here!” he screamed, and closely behind him were… Zombies? I turned around and sprinted into the second school building, known as The Blossom, together with another girl. I slid in the door and ran up the stairs, stopping by the second door to the inner part of the building. The first door was slowly closing, I wanted to move to safety but I could not take my eyes off the door that was shutting itself at a painfully slow speed. A running zombie bashed into the door and fell onto the floor on the inside of the door. It sprawled on the floor for a few seconds before it looked up, and made eye contact. The zombie started lunging towards me, that got me to move, I swung the door open and ran in, dragging it close as fast as I could, fighting the automatic close mechanism that just wouldn’t let me shut it fast enough. The door slammed shut, and the zombie crashed into the glass. I breathed out in relief before I saw that none of the other entrances to the school were closed, and zombies were slowly moving in.

I looked around and saw the girl that I ran in with just a meter behind me, grabbing her arm we headed down the main stairs to the music rooms. The music room had thick glass walls out towards the main open area of the building, so we were able to see what was going on outside. Closing the door behind us, we looked on as the upper hallways were being filled with the large horde. A few had already gotten down to the main area and were walking outside our glass cage. We stood there quietly for a few seconds, wondering what to do. I remembered something that I had heard from somewhere. 

“Hey,” I turned to the girl, “didn’t it say somewhere that if you cover yourself with a zombie's blood they can’t detect you?” She looked unsure but nodded slowly. I looked around the room for a weapon. I opened my music case and took out my trumpet, holding it by the mouth part and centre. I nodded at the girl, and she slowly opened the door, constantly keeping herself behind it. A zombie that was walking just outside sloppily turned towards us. Its jaw was hanging open and looked to be broken and one side was only attached with some strings of its dull green skin. I readied my musical weapon as the zombie started to limp towards me. Once it was inside the music room I moved forward lifting the trumpet above my head and slammed the edge of the trumpets horn down onto the zombies fragile head. It dropped to the ground we stared at it for a few seconds but it remained immobile. 

“Close the door,” I ordered the girl.

It was disgusting to cover ourselves in the zombies' blood, but it might save our lives so I was willing to sacrifice a bit of comfort. I picked up the bloody trumpet and opened the door, the smell of death made my vision blur for a moment. A zombie walked past, and it didn't even seem like it notices us. It passed me and I swung the trumpet hitting it hard in the back of the head, the zombie dropped to the ground and we scouted the area. The zombies were everywhere moving around on all three of the buildings floor, the atrium structure of the building made it feel like we were standing in the arena of the Colosseum, with the balcony styled hallways being the spectator seats. 

“Hey.” I turned to the girl but she was gone, I spun around trying to spot her, but it was as if she had vanished into thin air. I ran back into the music room to see if she had tried to hide in there but it was empty. I was about to call out for her but realised that she had never told me her name, and screaming with all the zombies might be a poor choice. I took a look at the zombies trying to spot if she somehow turned into one, not that I actually thought that but I do doubt she would just run away. I looked around trying to see one with long dark I slowed down trying to spot her among the crowd but she was nowhere to be seen. Something hard struck me from behind. I felt dizzy. I turned around in a daze and saw the girl standing behind me, she was holding a metal pipe. It dawned on me that she had been the one to hit me. She dropped the pipe which made a metal sound against the floor before she turned and ran. The sound, however, made the other zombies turn, and move toward me. My surroundings got blurry, and as I stumbled a step after her a zombie bumped into my shoulder, in a daze I swung around and slammed its head in. My head hurt about as bad as its looked. More zombies got closer and I shakily raised the trumpet in front of me and swung it at one of the zombies approaching. It was a sloppy swing but it connected and knocked the zombie of balance.

“Fuck,” I mumbled as I stumbled to the side, one grabbed me by the arm and pain shoot through it, another bit into my shoulder, and I collapsed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked that first chapter


	2. The Dreams Repeat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zombies and Scissors  
> The first repeat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> second Chapter done... yay

I was standing by the school's stairway, lazily looking down on the ground below me. I was seriously getting bored, they were having a bake sale outside and this was my break from… I felt as if I woke up from my own thought. Wait, didn't this already happen? I looked at the time, trying to orientate myself as to where and when I am. It is 15:51, my shift at the bake sale should have started about a minute ago. So what was all that before? Or well is about to happen or has just happened. Two students came half jogging, half running from the science corridor, both of them looked stressed and worried. They passed me and hurried down the stairs.

“Hey, what's going on,” I asked, moving to follow them, still trying to wrap my head around what was happening. 

“The cafeteria, something has happened,” they answered but kept going. I wonder if this is the same thing that happened before. I ran on after them.

Everyone seemed to be seated in the cafeteria, and I saw my usual group sitting at the second table to the right, which had windows that showed the enclosed garden which had an oak tree growing inside of it. I went and sat down among them, none of them paid attention to me and just keep on talking. I scanned the rest of the crowd, everyone seemed so calm and were just chatting among them selves, maybe I was wrong and the other things were just some daydream gone wrong.

I looked for Lucienne, a girl in the grade above me, we meet during a combined language course and quickly became good friends. She usually sits three table away, in a diagonal direction, with the rest of her small group of friends I have started to talk to more and more. They were there, but Lucienne was absent, she hasn't been there during the first break either, now that I think about it, she was home sick. Which was really bad timing because she was going to have her Birthday party this Saturday. I kept looking around trying to spot a teacher to ask what was going on, but instead, my gaze landed on the entrance. Large glass doors and windows covered the north and east side of the cafeteria, the west has windows and a smaller door to the enclosed green area, and the south was where you got your food and did not have any windows. I watched a zombie slowly moving past the glass walls, by the north entrance, and watched in horror as I realised that the double door was wide open. Once again I felt like I could not move and just stared at the zombie standing there emptily staring at us sitting ducks. Just like I had done when I watched the door close before. Why didn't anyone close the door? I certainly wasn’t the last one to enter, at least three or four other entered after me. The zombie turned to completely face the cafeteria and everyone in it. The shatter quieted down and now everyone was looking at the zombie, there was a pause and then the zombie charged.

Everyone at my table stood up and ran. I ran into the enclosed green area, aiming for the door on the other side, but the zombie grabbed my shoulder with its bony hands, because of course it would follow me of all people in the full cafeteria. I lost my balance and started to fall, trying to stay up I reached out and grabbed the zombie by its shirt. The result was that the zombie also fell and with my rotating momentum I managed to get the zombie to land underneath me. As it struggled under my weight, I grabbed a pair of scissors that had fallen out of my bad and were now lying on the ground. I stabbed the zombie in its head with the scissors sharp edge. The zombie’s green skin rotated around the scissors. The zombie grabbed my ankle, and I brought down the scissors into his skull again. The zombie was twitched and the scissors made contact again and again until the zombie lied motionless on the ground. 

From there I stood up and made my way back into the cafeteria, my group had sat down just a table way for their original spot, they were quietly watching the people in the centre of the cafeteria. A small crowd stood around someone, and I could hear the person in the middle whining and it sounded like he was in pain. Suddenly he screamed or growled was more like it, a frighten shriek came from the people around him. Someone fell backwards as a zombie attacked him, but before it was able to do anything the zombie was pulled off by a girl from the 11th grade and a guy from 12th grade. To my right Masha collapsed onto the ground, curling up into a small ball, a few other students around the cafeteria started acting the same way. I stared at Masha, her skin became pale and greenish. It looked like she was turning into a zombie, but why? She hadn't been bitten, I think at least. The same thing happened to the other 4 students. People started moving, holding to restrain them, and I did the same, running up to Masha and with a few other students help hold her down on the floor. A boy in maybe 7th grade came running with a yellow sparsely helmet looking thing. The top looked like it was made out of glass or some kind of shiny orange stone, black wires stuck out from the back of the helmet and looped around to the front, there was also a black thick clasp which could be attached under the chin. Masha struggled under us as the 7th grader attempted to put on the helmet, I looked over to the other collapsed students and I saw that Ethan was holding a similar helmet in his hands but this one was dark blue. Masha loosened up, and her greening skin got back some of its original colour.

“This should repress the transformations symptoms and as long as they keep them on they should be human,” commented Ayden, as he let go of Masha’s light arm, the other who had been restraining her did the same, I hesitantly let go as well, not really trusting whatever magical device they just pulled out from nowhere. Masha was breathing heavy but she looked normal now, so I backed off. I walked over to the still open glass doors on the north side of the cafeteria, wondering in slight anger why no one had bothered to close them after the zombie attacked, did they want to die? I shut the door and did my best to make it lock. There were screams behind me. Oh what now? I turned around in irritation, just to see Masha launch herself at Samuel, who slammed into the ground screaming. Blood seeped out on the ground has Masha bit into him, everyone screamed and turned tail. The other students that had needed to be restrained had begun to hurled themselves at others as well. Several students ran into the green area where I had killed the first zombie, the new five or six zombies chased after them. Through the glass windows to the area I could see Ricardo fall as he was grabbed by a Zombie. I pulled out my pocketed scissors and ran after them, like any suicidal horror movie character would do, perfect… I rammed the zombie that was close to the door and buried the scissors in its skull. I looked up on the other side of the garden area a guy from Lucienne's class was being chased, I couldn't remember his name. I stood up and was about to start running after them when I felt a pain in my neck and something warm started to run down my back. Two hands tightly gripped my arm and shoulder, stiffly I turned my head, and was meet by yellow dead eyes. My whole body had turned stiff, frozen even and I was unable to do anything. A dark numbness spread in my head damping out the pain of the bite, and then the world.


	3. Movement among dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Movement among dreams  
> Hotels and Tsunamis

I jolted up from the railing I had been leaning on, a hand moved up to cover my neck as I spun around. I was back where I had been during break. I looked at the clock, only a couple more minutes… I rushed down the stairs only to bump into Alia, a girl from the grade below me. 

“Ow sorry,” I quickly said

“No, it’s fine,” she said quietly. Alia was rather shy around people, well people she didn't know too well, like me. Even though I sit by her table quite often since I'm talking to Lucienne, we haven't really done much interacting. Part of that of because I have always felt like she does not like me, I can't describe why I think that it’s just one of those feeling you get something (a lot). She was on her way in the direction of the school's exit, which was odd, the school was only on its 4th period, it's lunch now so there are still 2 more hours of school. 

“Where are you going? I asked curiously. 

“I'm going to see Lucienne, she's sick,” going to see Lucienne? I thought confused, but it's in the middle of the school day. Then again I’ve seen crazier today. That’s when it hit me, I had an escape route.

“Can I come with?” I asked sneakily, Alia thought for a second before she nodded, and together we walked out to the parking lot. I looked back at the school, thinking about what I was sure was going to happen, wondering if I should stay. What was I thinking of course not, I wasn’t too much help before and I doubt me being there would change anything. 

A minute went by and I could see the jet plane that flew over the school before the first attack approached the school. The plane turned toward the parking lot and started to hover down, like a helicopter of one of those spy planes in movies. It landed and Alia ran up to it, giving me a questioning look as she began to step in. 

“You coming?” I hesitantly walked around the side of the plane and saw Alia’s dad sitting in front of the controls. He looked angrily at me, as Alia said something to him.

“No,” he said. I walked up to the jet and asked him the same question I had asked Alia.

“Hello Mr. Drikson, I was wondering if I could come with you to visit Lucienne.” he starred coldly at me for a long second, seriously what’s his deal?

“No” he finally said, I looked blankly at him. Alia gave me an apologetic look and stepped into the plane. I mean, he has the right to refuse, but, I’m not staying. So as the stubborn person I can be from time to time, I would not accept that as an answer. The plane started to drive over the parking lot to start taking off. I started running beside it and forced the side door open. I clung onto a passenger seat in the back and managed to crawl into the aircraft, the plane shook lightly as it got up into the air, I hissed and imminently regretted my decision to force my way onboard. When I glanced at Alia’s dad he looked back at me angrily but he didn’t say anything and just continued flying, so instead, I directed my attention back at the school, wondering what would happen next. I should probably have _planed_ this out better, I thought to self before crying on the inside for the absolutely atrocious pun. Well, I guess that defines my personality quite well; atrocious pun maker.

A few minutes later we parked the jet in front of a large fancy hotel, and the jet morphed into a car. I stepped out of the now read car and walked towards the 6 story building. The front wall was covered in thick glass, and between each panel of glass, was a thin metal pipe either painted or made out of gold. I opened the door and walked up to the counter, not noticing that Alia and her dad stopped by the entrance, staring in awe at the decorations in the high roofed building.

“Hello, in which room is Lucienne?” I asked the girl at the counter,

“201 on the space-themed floor,” she answered without really looking up. That means floor 2. I took the elevator up a floor and made myself towards room 201, but when I arrived it was unlocked and empty. The queen-sized double bed was still untouched, and it looked newly cleaned. I looked around the room as the light dimmed and sparks dappled on the wall. My eyes snapped to the window, as I saw a wave of water rush past. After a few seconds of processing, I ran over to the window and looked at the lower waves rushing pasts in the streets below.

“What the…” I mumbled, still failing to process what was going on, “… is this like… a flash flood or a… a tsunami?” The wave died down into a stream, or more like a river, and slowly decelerated until it began to reside. The mass of water moved back like a tape was being rewound, bicycles, trash and other debri floating in it. I ran back downstairs, most people were in a panic, looking around and shouting.

Alia and her dad began to run out as soon as all the water disappeared completely and I flowed them. They ran to the car which was by some miracle unaffected by the rush of water, however that was possible, especially considering the carnage everywhere else. Thinking that we would get up and leave I got into the car but to my surprise, they started unpacking their stuff instead. What are they even doing? They got their bag and started to head back to the Hotel, I don’t know how to drive a car or a Jet, so my only option was to follow them, before I did that however, I grabbed my own bag and laptop, since it wouldn't hurt to have them with me. As I started to head back after Alia, I heard banging on the trunk of the car. Curiously I peeked in through the window and saw Tiffany, knocking hard on the window. Confused I opened the trunk as fast as I could and she jumped out. 

“What are you..?” I started but was interrupted by the rumbling of the second wave of the tsunami hitting the edge of the city. 

“Come on, we need to get inside,” I told her,

“No, we need to get out of the city,” 

“What are you talking about?” I asked frustrated pointing down the street, “Don’t you hear that? The wave is coming, there is no way to get out of the way of the tsunami before hits!” She just shocked her head and just turned around and started jogging down the street. Broken of branches, trash and cars had been thrown into the middle of the road. Irritated I turned around, and saw the wave, approaching between the buildings. My face turned white and I sprinted towards the hotel, swinging the door open and pushing it shut as soon I was inside. The water rushed passed at a ridiculously high speed, and I along with everyone else in the room backed away from the glass, wondering if it would hold. Any normal glass would definitely not, it’d shatter at the thought of this kind of powerful water, but this class didn’t… for some reason, it will forever be a mystery. The thing is, I do not trust momentary stability. In order to not be in the way of the water when it eventually breaks the glass, I headed up to the top floor, of the hotel along with a few others. 

The top floor was like the attic of a church, and to get to it you had to take a pair of stair separate from the evaluator. Wooden beams were constructed like X’s, cobweb and dust littered the place. Under normal circumstances this place would be off limits for the quests, but there was tsunami outside so I doubt that we will get in trouble. On the far side of the large room was a stained glass window, also like the once that you would see in a church, I walked over to it and looked down. We were several storeys up, the tsunami wasn’t even close to reaching us. That’s good. The building shock, as a larger wave hit the lower floor, one powerful jolt and then a more like side to side swaging… and moving, the building was moving. The first wave must have damaged the foundation of the building, and now the second wave tore it off its base, and now the strong stream pulled the building with it. The water had turned into a grey-brownish colour from the mud and trash it had mixed with, the hotel kept drifting with the current. Further ahead I saw how the water moved downwards, as if there was a drop in height, as we moved closer I realised that that was exactly what it was. Something heavy must have been slammed into the ground because the concert had cracked and caved, which had opened a way down into the subway station. The waters force ripped a piece of the asphalt off, and widened the opening. 

“Everyone hold on to something!” I shouted back as I moved away from the window, trying to get to one of the pillars. The hotel tipped, as it went other the edge of the hole, and slammed into its edge, I fell, not quite having reached the poles. Right below me was the window, that I had just been standing by. I slammed into the middle of the glass, it cracked, and a second later it broke. I fell into the wild water and was quickly submerged by the undercurrents that had formed. I struggled to surface, as burning water entire my lungs. I managed to surface for just a second, above me. I saw the hotel lying on its side, over the hole in the ground, which was just a little too small to let the hotel fall though. I tried to take a breath before I was submerged again. A rock from the ceiling broke off and fell into the water, then another, and another. A large part of the ceiling collapsed, and the rubble dragged me to the bottom of the subway. The water went into my lungs.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, it gets weirder... 
> 
> I hope this was somewhat interesting to read, and I will hopefully continue this until I'm completely done with it. Then I will probably go back and edit things to make it flow better, but I guess we will see.
> 
> The events that happen are really weird but I would like to know what anyone thinks of it, so feel free to leave a comment or something.  
> I hope it wasn't written to awkwardly or became too boring.


	4. Things are Going of The Rails

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are going of the rails  
> There is another movement in the dreams

I collapsed on all four, gasping for air. I leaned my forehead on the floor and went down on my elbows trying coughing to get the water out of my lungs as my eyes watered.

Still trying to take in as much air as possible I lifted my head and looked around, felt dizzy and was not able to stabilise my vision. I sat on the floor for a few minutes, steadying myself, making my desperate gasping breaths calm down, and taking one last long breath I looked around trying to orientate myself. I was sitting in a long the metal coloured corridor there where small windows evenly spaced out along one side and doors on the other, the windows were all covered in a metal sheet, like a blinds. It wasn't a place that I recognise which was concerning.

Shakily I stood up and started walking along the corridor, peaking in through the open windows by the doors. The doors led to small compartments with one or two beds and a small table, but there was no one inside. So its some sort of motel or just in a general stay the night place. I also tried to get the metal blinds in front of the windows to the outside open but they didn’t budge and remain closed. Carefully I kept walking through the hallway.

I arrived a set of doors, which looked like the doors of a train, I pushed the button on the side and the doors slide open. I stepped out on a platform and realised that what I had been in was indeed a train. The platform was one of many in the area, and they kept going in even intervals as far as the eye could see. There weren’t any visible walls or roof everything just kept going into a continues darkness, consuming the platforms further away. I looked around, the train that I had been on was positioned across two platforms, hanging over the railway going in-between them, to my right was a group of people. I walked over to them, hoping to get some information, as to what was going on. This seemed like such a random place to end up, especially I just seemed to go back in time or something the past two times. There was a train horn from the darkness, and I looked towards where I thought it came from as I kept walking. A large old train emerged from the darkness, speeding across the tracks. I watched it come closer and closer not appearing to slow down.

“That train is coming towards us really fast, we should probably back away from the tracks as much as possible,” I said concerned, directing it to the people on platform, looking for a path away from the platforms. “Hello?” I asked when no one reacted, panicked I glanced to the train again. I jumped down on the tracks on the opposite side of the platform, first making sure no trains were coming from that directions. The train speed into the station, and along the track that my train was hanging over. The trains collided, with the moving train seaming unbothered by the collision, my train however flew across the station. The second train disappeared into the darkness again. I stared at the buckled up train lying on the platform. It looked like a recycled metal can, shivered up and buckled together. What if I hadn’t gotten out of there? What if I didn’t become conscience in time?

I looked at the group of people, none of which seemed too bothered. That’s reassuring… I thought sarcastically.

I turned looked around to see if there maybe were any platforms with a door or something, there wasn't. In fact all the platforms had disappeared, instead, every inch of the once lookalike station were replaced by train tracks. I spun around, the platform behind me had disappeared as well, the people on it were nowhere to be seen. The horn that had been heard for the speeding train was heard again. I froze, and looked around, not wanting to be in the way of the hellish train. But of course, I was. I ran off the set of tracks and stopped once I was three-four tracks away. More horns could be heard and a countless number of trains ran across the other tracks in different directions, that included the track I had just moved to, and the one next to me. I looked around desperately trying to find a safe place to be. My gaze landed on a support pillar between two of the tracks, the pillar continued up to the roof, somewhere into the darkness. I sprinted over to it, hoping it would provide some cover from the trains. I pushed my back into the pillar trying to make myself as small as possible, as the train on my previous track rushed passed, the sudden gust of wind it created almost made me lose my balance. 

I stood there for some time, as trains rushed past me on all sides, the longer I stood there without getting hit by the trains, the more I started to relax. I gazed over the area in front of me, I couldn’t look behind me without risking having my head chopped off by one of the trains. Looking around didn’t help much, there was still the train tracks, in neat parallel lines going into a dark abyss, along the way there were several other support pillars unevenly and unregularly spread out. Trains were still running a mock, in all directions. I sighed, I guess I will have to venture into the darkness to see if there is anything in there that I can’t see from here. I looked at the next support pillar it was diagonally on my left around, what I would guess to be, 20 meters or so. That meant that I would have to cross a 15 trains tracks, which meant that I have the chance of being in the way of 15 trains. I took another deep breath, I could always just stand here until the end of time, but… I do feel like I should make some process.

I followed the next two tracks trying to see if there is a train approaching, only one. I ducked in behind the pillar again, as the train passed, before I peeked out again. One train in the very back just emerging from the dark, I would be able to pass before it got here. With that I ran, aiming for the next pillar, and looking around to see if any other trains are approaching. I stopped at a track to let a train pass, and then kept running once the track was clear. It didn’t take much more than a few seconds before I was behind the pole. I looked around for my next target, sported it, ran to it, rinse repeat, victory. So I ran, to the third, and the forth, and the fifth, and I stopped for a breather. I looked towards the darkness that I was heading towards, and… it didn’t seem like I had moved a meter. Everything around me looked the same and it wasn’t like the dark looked any closer either. I sighed, as I took sight on the next pillar and kept going. After what had felt like an hour or two, I spotted something different, something that stood out from my metal bleak surroundings. It was a tree, I moved towards it, and soon enough I felt cold wood underneath my hand. I looked behind it and saw more trees talking the place of the poles. 

“The hell?” 

I lost my train of thought when I heard a loud sound of metal against metal. I turned around, and saw one of the trains, coming towards me, it was lying on its side like something had tipped it over, and covering several tracks at once. It hadn’t slowed down though and sparks flew around the parts where the metal of the train meet the metal of the track. I wouldn’t have time to run away from the full length of the train, so hurried around the tree and ducked down behind it. Another loud sound. I peaked out from around the tree; a second train, still running normally, rammed the sliding train from behind. The force from the crash put the second train on its side as well, although this one kept following its track vertically instead of horizontally like the first train.

I moved back behind the tree again and shielded my head with my arms. The train hit the wood, the middle of the train slowed, but the trains kept going, making it wrap around the tree. Wood snapped and cracked as it broke, and it, along with the train started to collapse over me. There was not where to go.

 


	5. It's ok

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's ok

I came to in a forest, it was dark and I could see the moon through the trees. I was holding a flashlight in my hands, and it was focused on a tree in front of me. I looked around trying to see if there were any lights that might point me towards civilisation. There wasn’t, so I turned around, and started to walk. If I was on the way into the forest before, then going the opposite way should be the way to… where I came from, or at least out of the forest. Of course, there was no guarantee that was true but it was what all that I had to go on right now. So go I shall.  
I walked and walked, and my vision started to turn static. I rubbed my eyes, trying to make them focus on the way in front of me, it didn’t help, in fact, it was getting worse. I stopped and closed my eyes as I rubbed them, harder this time. I opened my eyes, but the static was still there. Now however it had spread to my ears as well. It hurt so I knelt down on the ground as I shook my head, trying to get rid of it. It didn’t work. Something moved towards me, and I looked up trying to see what it was. Through the static, I could see it, it was tall and dark, really tall, its head, which was covered in something completely white, was expressionless. It kept approaching, and my vision became more and more static. I stood up unsteadily and directed my flashlight towards it. My eyes hurt and I could no longer hear the sounds of the forest over the static noise. I closed one eye, as they were starting to water. The thing, person, approaching was not right. He… looked of, his proportions were all wrong. Too tall, too thin, too pale, to… blank. I shined my flashlight in its face and it extended a long black arm towards me. I turned and ran, my shoulder slammed into a tree that I saw too late, I stumbled but kept running, desperate to get away. The further away I got the less my head hurt and the clearer I could see. I ran until I physically could not run anymore, and stopped.   
My breaths were short and rough, and it felt like I was suffocating as my body refused to take in as much air as it demanded. I looked for the, man, thing, but couldn’t see him. Not wanting to stand still for so long, I started to walk, catching my breath as I did so. At least the static was gone. I took another unsteady breath, in and out. The problem now is that I have no idea where I am, not that I did before, but now I don’t know which direction I came from or which direction I had started to walk… Dammit. Guess the only thing I can really do now is keep walking, can’t exactly turn around. With that, I directed my light forward and walked. Occasionally I felt dizzy and my vision became static again, but not as bad as the first time. I could have sworn that I saw the tall figure through the trees every time that happened. Now that I didn’t feel like clawing my eyes out from static, I could actually get a good look at him, it, still don’t know. It was wearing a black suit, which would have made it extremely hard to spot it in the dark, if it wasn’t for the pale completely white face if you could call it a face, it looked like someone had dragged a white sock over their head. The figure was, as I had initially noted, extremely tall, unnaturally so, especially compared to how thin it was, it was like a long thin straight line with arms.  
I hurried through the forest attempting to keep walking in the same direction for as long as possible. If I saw it in front of me I would change direction and tried to circle around the monster at a distance. What felt like an hour passed before I finally made it out to a clearing, and stepped onto a ground made out of concrete. I looked behind me, seeing if I could spot the tall man somewhere in the forest watching me, I couldn’t, so I started walking along the empty street. The buildings had broken windows and were covered in those plants that like to grow along the side of walls. The street was damage and had cracks all along it, with weed and vegetation growing out of it. The whole place, in general, had an empty and abandoned feel. Was the tall man in the forest someone who used to live here or is he the reason this place is abandoned? If he used to live here, then why does he look so unnaturally tall and … slender, and why is his face completely covered by white fabric or whatever. I swept the flashlight, over the dark buildings, the moonlight created long creepy shadows. A chill went down my spine, and suddenly I got a feeling of being watched. I spun around and directed the flashlight ahead of me, nothing. I shuttered, and cautiously turned around, almost expecting something to be behind me when I turned around again, there wasn’t.   
I walked passed a building that was not an apartment, it was a one, possibly a two story with a flat roof. I looked at it, as realisation stuck. On the left side of the entrance was a block about half my size covered in muck and green moss, or at least I will consider it moss for now. I took the sleeve of my shirt and wiped the of the concrete block, “Silver Oa” I kept wiping, “Silver Oak Secondary School” it finally read.  
“I guess that setts where I am in stone,” I desperately said to myself giving of a horse laugh at the atrocious pun. My sleeve was wet and saggy and now had a brown-green colour instead of the dark blue it had been before, but I didn’t really care about that. Instead, I turned around in a circle. Looking at things that I now recognised, my way home, the post office just a 100 meters to the side. I felt my heart sink. I was home, this was the school I had left not to long ago. I thought of it for a second longer, the forest must have been an extension of the trees of the former park which had spread, judging by how damaged the rest of the city looked I would say that it had been abandoned for years, maybe even decades. Then where did everyone go? Was this the zombies doing? But I couldn’t have been gone long enough for this to happen. I felt restless now that I knew where I actually was, I almost liked it better when I didn’t. I started to walk the way home from my school, worried. If everyone was was gone, where are my mom and dad? Did they leave, do they know where I am? Of course not, hell, I didn’t even know where I was until a few moments ago. I walked faster until I broken into a run then a sprint.   
My house was only a few of minutes away so I arrived within a minute of running. Much like everything else in the town, it was… aged to say the least. It was dark and grey with whines climbing the wall, and you could barely see the pathway up to the house because of all the weeds and plants sprouting between the hundreds of cracks in the pavement. I quietly walked up to it, pulled a key from my pocket and went inside.   
The place was completely abandoned, not even rats inhabited it. Several of the windows were broken, the wooden furniture had rotten and collapsed. I held my trembling hands together, in an attempt to steady them as I moved the light around the room and I felt like I was about to cry. It’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, I walked further into the house, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, our tv’s had been broken and large cracks were running through the screen, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, I opened the doors leading into the part of the house with our bedrooms, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s…. A sudden pain struck through my skull, and I knelt down on the ground again, holding my head. It was an intense throbbing pain and I could feel my eyes water. It’s ok, I felt dizzy. It’s ok, I felt like throwing up. It’s ok, my vision was filled with static. It’s ok, I could hear footsteps behind me. It’s ok, kneeling on the floor I glanced back. It’s ok, the footsteps were drowned out by static, It’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, My vision got worse. It’s ok, it’s ok, I could not see what I had heard approaching. It’s ok, My limbs felt like they were falling asleep. It’s… o…k, a hand landed on my shoulder. It’s… o…, Something sharp pierced my body, and something warm trickled down my back and upper arm. It’s…. I could hear heavy breathing in my ear, clearing the static. It… A warm breath on my cheek, as a cold, raspy voice spoke.  
“It’s ok,”


	6. Waking The Next Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Home of the wingless dragons  
> Waking The Next Day

The was a sharp piercing sound, which died out and was replaced by a steady beeping. 

I drowsily opened my eyes, my body felt heavy and I slowly let my eyes pan across the room, by the furthest wall was a bookshelf, filled with, well books. The three selfs on the top left were neatly stacked, the books all being organised by size and the shelves by theme, however towards the 4th and 5th top shelf the person who had organised the bookshelf seemed to have given up and just placed the books in randomly, and in the lower shelves some of the books weren’t even staked on the shelf but rather lied sideways on top of the books that were. Slowly it dawned on me that that person who had staked those books was me.

I slowly got out of bed and looked around, the puzzles hanging on the walls like posers and the messy desk who’s content had spread to the window pane and chair that was not only covered with computer cords but also with clothes… Jepp, this was my room. A couple of textbooks lied on the floor next to the desk, they were rarely used as I preferred to procrastinate rather than study. I picked them up and placed them on top of some of the books in the bookshelf, I’ll find a better place for them later, AKA in three years or never. I sighed and got changed, putting on a long-sleeved grey and darker grey striped shirt and jeans. I felt uneasy, thinking back to what happened before, with the abandoned city, run a muck train, tsunamis, and repeated zombie attacks… were those just dreams? Seams like the kind of weird dreams that I would have, like the one were there was a fighting tournament in my living room;

I and my unknown friend knocked out a guy in armour in order to take his place, and fight in the tournament, it didn’t work because we didn’t put on the armour right so it fell off when we got onto the stage. Instead, we flew off and out the now skyscraper building. We talked to a guy who’s girlfriend we had possibly accidentally killed, (no explanation given) and then drained the energy of one other guy that we knew so that he fainted and thus losing the final match of the tournament, before we just flew away, avoiding any and all consequences. 

So yeah, those previous events being messed up dreams, was not very far-fetched, besides it would be weirder if anything even remotely close to that happened. I argued with myself, unwilling to give up the safety and comfort of now being in my own non-messed up (although messy) bright bedroom. Besides, all the other times I never woke up, like, in bed or anything like that, I continued to argue my point with myself, attempting to shake off the uneasy and way to really experience all of that had been. All the other times I just became aware of being somewhere else, I didn’t wake up. So by that logic, because I woke up this would not be a new place, but rather me waking up… for good. All the other times I became aware while I was doing something, leaning over a railing, walking down the corridor of a train or walking in a forest, so… so… I shook my head, doing this usually only me more worried than I was from the beginning, so I should stop; tell myself everything is back to normal and not argue for or against it…

“Everything is back to normal,” there I said it, now moving on. I almost laughed at my own paranoia odiously it was a dream, did I really even if just for a second, think that that entire thing had been real? That’s just stupid, no matter how real it felt… I’m doing it again, obviously, it’s not real, moving on.

I walked out and peaked into my parent's room, they were not there, and the beds were made. Felling how fear started to lurk at the back of my mind again, I became worked up again, then I heard voices from the kitchen, or possibly the living room. No hysterical streams or shouting, just normal conversation. I’m just being paranoid and stupid, taking a steadying breath I walked out into the living room and saw my dad sitting at the computer and my mom was standing next to him, they were watching something, that I couldn’t see. 

“Good morning,” I said as I walked passed, peaking at the computer screen, it was a video of a man doing a skydive, dad had shown this to me yesterday, the man jumping was breaking some kind of record for the longest or highest up skydive. 

“Morning,” mom smiled at me, “We have newly baked bread in the kitchen if you want,”

“Thanks,” I walked into the kitchen and cut up a piece of bread. I felt more relaxed once I had eaten because it felt like I had not eaten for days, I made another sandwich and put a mug of soon to be hot chocolate in the microwave. Once I was done with breakfast I went into my normal weekend routine, I thought it was Friday… 

I moved into my room, and lied down on my bed again, procrastination; the best way to spend the Saturday. I lied and stared at the ceiling, trying to disappear into my own mind, I started to weave a story, after a while however, I started to drift away from my story and into the memories of the things, that were definitely dreams; repeating and, rewriting the events, thinking of different possibilities, different ways everything could have gone. Should I have stayed in the school? Repeating everything until I had managed to win or survive the day, like those live, die repeat movies, repeat everything, slowly changing what I do until I complete my last task or win or whatever. Then again, I don’t know where the Hotel with, the tsunami was, if it was close by the school would have been struck as well, since even the top floor is relatively close to the ground it would have been sweep away so really the best chance I would have had is to be by the hotel. I mean, the very best thing to do would have been staying in the jet plane with Alia was the Tsunami the reason for the abandoned city? I sat up, I’m just looping around, thinking about what had happened, it as a dream nothing else, I should not be spending this much time on this. I sighed and got out of bed, I might as well do something active if I won’t be able to be lazy lying on my bed in peace.

I went outside, and took a walk, following the way to school. Once I reached the school I took a lap around it, walking down to the river behind it. When I got to the river I stopped and directed my attention to the water, clear and blue, with a light flashback to the tsunami I shuttered and walked up to the front of the school. I passed the now clean concrete slab with the writing, “Silver Oak Secondary School” on it. I looked at the school for another minute before taking a left following the path to the park. I looked around and thought about how the houses had looked like when it was in the dream where it was abandoned. I stopped in front of the pond in the park, before I looked towards the edge of the small patch of trees which were probably where the forest had spread from.

There was a slight tremor in the ground and I froze; what was that? I turned around, another tremor, I dragged myself closer to the pond, I looked around and was suddenly completely aware of my surroundings. Another tremor, it felt closer, and there was a growl. It sounded controlled, not like an angry animal or anything like that, it, like it came from something really big. I scanned the area, not being able to spot what made the sounds. I could however see, and feel, the trees by the edge of the forest move, swaying lightly like a heavy wind blew through them, but there was currently no wind at all, so that does not sound too probable. I ducked down next to the large tree by the pound, looking towards the small moving forest. A large reptile looking mouth, or snout’s more like it peaked out from the trees. It wasn’t just large it was huge, standing at around 8 meats off the ground just the tip of it was as large as me. I held my breath fixated on the monster as it emerged from the trees. It looked like some kind of dinosaur-lizard hybrid, or maybe like a dragon without wings or spikes, it had small black scales matching those of a snake running alone its entire body. Its body was slim and light in the step and it strode smoothly out of the trees, every step was light but its massive body caused a tremor every time it moved. Its long tail hovered above the ground swinging from side to side in rhythm which each movement it made. The feet had large, sharp, curved claws that shine silver in the sun.

 I stared at the creature, both in fascination and absolute terror. If it wasn’t for the fact that I would most likely be killed by it within seconds I would have wanted to pet it. I slowly averted my gaze, not wanting to alert it by staring, since some animals can seemingly sense that kind of attention. I sat as still as I could not wanting the creature to see me while it moved its head around when it walked, seemingly scanning the area. It kept waling and started to come on the side of the tree that I was hiding behind, although a lot further away, I tried to move around the tree, to make sure it covered me again. I waited until the creature looked the other direction before I shifted my weight, the monsters head snapped towards me the second I moved. I froze, not daring to breathe or make eye contact. Holding my breath, I waited, waited for it to move, waited for it to attack, waited for it to do something. I waited, but it didn’t do anything, not for a long time, finally, it took a step towards me, lowering its snake-like neck and head, letting its upper body hunch down like a predator ready to attack. I got moving, and ran a B line towards the trees, hoping that they would slow it down, hoping that I could reach it in time, hoping that I wouldn’t die. The earth trembled and I lost my balance as the ground moved beneath me, catching myself in next step I focused on not slowing down, or look back. Don’t look back, don’t look back, don’t look back, it growled angrily, and I managed to slide in between a couple of narrow grown tees as I heard something snap shut being me, I felt something nab at my hair for just a second, and there was a hot breath on my neck. 

There was a large crash when the creature ran into the trees I had gotten in between, as I had hoped they were positioned too close together for the creature to continue. I kept running and when I glanced back, I saw a long leg with deadly claws come swinging but it wasn’t aimed at me, instead, it grabbed one of the trees blocking its path. A rumble could be heard as the tree was more or less pulled from its roots. In the moments the monster had been distracted by the trees, I had slipped inside a large bush. Outrunning that thing was not an option, even if it was hindered by the trees. It had caught up to me within seconds when it when I ran from the pond even though had more than double the distance to go and needed to do a 180 turn. It didn’t notice me until I had moved so it would stand to reason that if I sat still it would not find me… maybe. I took a deep breath before I calmed my breathing to the point where it didn’t make a sound.

The monster rushed passed my hiding spot, growing and snarling. The sound of cracking of wood could be heard as the monster slammed into the sides of the trees, seemingly too caught up in the chase to even bother trying to avoid them. I held my breath as the monster passed, and slowly let it out once it was gone. I shifted and peaked out of the bush, trying to see if the monster was far way enough for me to crawl out and try to run home. I looked around, waited, listening for a sound, and I could still hear the light roaring, and the trembling in the ground was still present but it was fainter. I snuck out of the bush, and I speed towards the trees, I didn’t want to run in case it heard me.

I quietly and discretely walked along the edges of the trees, trying to spot the monster, but it seemed to be gone. I couldn’t even feel the tremors anymore, so I ran the rest of the way home. I arrived at my house and entered. I couldn’t decide which would be worse, mom and dad being gone, or them being here while I know that that monster was outside. I didn’t really know why I would think that they would be gone, maybe I’m just a bit jumpy or paranoid since the abandoned city dream… thing. 

“Hello?” I called hoping to get an answer 

“Yes,” I heard my dad answer form the bedrooms, and I was filled with dread as I headed towards the room.

“Home already?” He looked up from his books that he was reading, lying on his bed. My mom was on her computer with papers scattered around her.

“Yeah, well it was a short walk.” I looked out the window, what to do now… I mean I should tell them and we should leave.

“There… um… was this monster by the park, and I mean an actual monster,” I said, a bit unsure how to approach it.

“A monster?” mom repeated, looking up from whatever she was typing on her computer, “what kind of monster?” I blinked at the complete lack of a serious reaction it all felt surreal.

“Like a, I don’t know, dinosaur.” You could look at it like a dinosaur I guess, “or, or a dragon. It was huge, and… monstrous.” Why was this so hard? I sighed, feeling like I wasn’t able to get my point across. I stood quiet for a second, I should have thought this through on the way home.

“It’s like this; it looked like a giant snake with leg, or more like a dragon without wings.” I thought, “It chased me to the forest by the park, it was huge like its nose was the size of my entire body. We should get into the car, call the police or something, and get out of here.” I moved my arms out dramatically.

“I don’t think its that bad,”

“You… don’t…?” I felt dumbfounded, “but” I looked at my parents, who had gone back to their work and book. I stood there for a minute, and mom got up.

“I think you are over exaggerating, how about we go and get you a cup of hot chocolate so that you can calm down?” I followed quietly as she lead me out of the room, and into the kitchen, where she put a cup of milk into the microwave. I wasn’t exaggerating though, almost the opposite. I Walked out to the balcony and took a deep breath, the air was cold. My mom came up next to me and handed me mug hot of chocolate, I took it and the warmth spread through my fingers. I looked in the direction of the park. 

I guess I was wrong with everything before was just a dream and that I had now woken up, I’m still in a dream. I took a sip of the warm liquid if I’m still in a dream, or well I don’t know for sure that it is a dream, but it’s the closest thing I can relate it to for now. Anyhow, if I’m still in the dream or dreams, then I might find a few previous patterns, so what do I know? Well, there is the obvious every time I die I just re-spawn or start a new dream. Looking at the pattern I started at the school, died, retired, died, and then I left to the hotel. Then within the same dream, I moved and… drowned, in the subway which made wake up in a subway then I got to the trees in the subway which was like an indication of moving area, this got me to the forest with that man… person… thing… I moved from there to my house and now I’m in my house I took another sip of the hot chocolate and walked inside, mom had already left. So does that mean that if I move area, the next dream will start in an area matching the one I moved to? That would make sense, well not 'sense', but the pattern match,

I stood in the hallway, wondering how to use what I had just figured out. As I faded back to reality from my own mind, I realised; the ground was shaking, trembling. I ran into my room and looked out the window, it was larger than it had been before, much larger. It was walking right by the trees next to the house, I swallowed as I moved away from the window. I hurried out of my room and closed the door, and glanced into my parent's room it was empty, so I closed that door too. 

“Mom, dad,” I called out as I stood in the hallway by the bedrooms, currently the only place where you could hide from all windows. Nobody came.

“Mom?” I was scared, “Dad?” Where are you? The house shook, and I lost my balance, hitting the floor and crushing the mug underneath my hand as I tried to catch myself. The brown liquid spread over the carpet. I held my hand and moved away from the bedroom doors towards the bathroom, it was bleeding. The house shook again and I slid down a meter towards my room again. I could hear how things underneath me broke, and how metal and concrete crumbled. The entire house tipped towards my room and I was sent flying into the door as the house was turned on its side.

“Ow…” I got onto all four on top of the door, as the house hadn’t turned back upright. The house felt like it was being held, and I hadn’t felt it fall, just being turned. I peeked through the keyhole into my room. I saw the rum and on the other side, I could see through the window, and looking in through the glass was a large green eye, as large as the window itself. The eye was like a shiny emerald and had a large thin pupil vertically slit down the iris, much like the pupil of a cat. It was twitching around like it was inspecting the room, it looked like the eye of a relentless predator. That thing is gigantic, and I thought that the one I saw earlier was big. I heard something breaking above me, and as I turned upwards I saw a sharp gleaming claw cut through the walls, I fell backwards and covered my face, as the claw reached me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And things keep going. 
> 
> I hope this was somewhat interesting to read, and I will hopefully continue this until I'm completely done with it. Then I will probably go back and edit things to make it flow better, but I guess we will see.
> 
> The events that happen are really weird but I would like to know what anyone thinks of it, so feel free to leave a comment or something.  
> I hope it wasn't written to awkwardly or became too boring. (or just all over the place)


	7. Still Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Silver Claws  
> A combination of where I have been  
> In a house by a river

I blinked dizzily as I faded into a conciseness again, I took a deep breath, guess I was wrong, I’m still in the dream thing. I gazed around it. I was right about how the dreams move on from one to another then I should still be by my house. I looked up from the wooden floor, to see a place that was not my house. Well fuck. I was standing in the middle of what appeared to be a small courtyard, I scratched my head in confusion, why am I here?

“Amari,” someone called behind me, “what are you doing just standing out there?” It was mom.

“Nothing” I walked towards her, and she stepped out of the doorway to let me in. 

“We are going to Riverside Oak to grab a bite to eat, do you want to come with?” I could go with to try and move on the dream, but I don’t even know if that is the thing that has an effect anymore. 

“No, I’m good,” first of all I have to figure this out. My theory matches everything else that has happened so why not this time?

“Where is dad?” I asked, instead.

“I think he’s finishing up the laundry” 

“Oh ok,” so if he is doing laundry that means that this is our house, at least in this dream. I walked away to look around. I wanted to know where I was and why I was here, my theory about how I move works for 6/7, so I wonder what changed. Is it one of those things that are like: oh now you have figured it out, so everything is going to turn upside down so you won't be able to predict what’s going on? I peaked into the next room that I passed, it looked like a kitchen, and I could see bowls that I recognised from my kitchen.

“Ok, so dad is doing laundry and the things here look like they are from my kitchen at home,” I muttered to myself “That would mean that in this dream, I am home. It’s just not my home from reality.” I kept walking, and ended up on a small balcony, from there I could orientate myself of off my surroundings. Firstly, I was by the river that ran next to our city, secondly, I could see the walkway right below me for people who wanted to walk along said river and thirdly if I leaned out and looks further down along the walkway I could see the familiar building that was Riverside Oak. 

“Ok, so I’m about a ten minute walk away from my house,” I said after I estimated the distance to the restaurant. If this place has the same map as I’m used to then I should know what would be around me. There should be a church the street to the right, and Lucienne should live ten minutes from here in the opposite direction from where I live, next to her house should be a large park, with another smaller restaurant. 

“Ok,” I sighed,

“Amari, we are going,” I looked down and my dad waved at me, as they exited the house onto the small garden heading towards the walkway. I wave back.

“You sure you don’t want to come with?” 

“Yah I’m sure,” 

“Ok, there is some food in the fridge if you get hungry, or you could stop by Riverside,” I nodded and they left. I didn’t want to go anywhere without thinking it thought. If things work the way that I thought they did then I don’t want to change locating needlessly. 

Firstly I need to figure out how this works, or I will be at a complete disadvantage. During the last dream I woke up in my house, and I also died in my house, which is why I’m currently in my supposed house. So why am I by the river? Maybe if I wake up in the next dream in the place that I have been to, then I’m by the river because I went down to the river during my walk where I meet the monster. Which means that my next dream would combine the places that I have gone to prior. But then why aren’t I by a park as well? With that logic, several of my other dreams should have been different as well, like with the train one I should have been by a hotel there was well. Maybe it’s a sort of inconsistent variable, that if I do a certain thing the location is stored for the next dream, or that it only happens sometimes. That, however, feels like a copout answer and it doesn’t give me anything to go on about how to control this.

I sigh and lifted myself of the railing before walking inside, I want to experiment with this, but at the same time, I don’t know what the consequences of doing so would be. Maybe it is like one of those things that it eats away at your soul, or life essence or something. I walk inside to look around some more. I know that shorter movements don’t affect things, since I could go from The Branch to The Blossom when I was in the school, during the first dream, which was going from one building into the next, all-be-it in the same school. I found the living room, which was decorated just like it was at home, on a table was my phone, I picked it up and check if it could give me any clue about… anything really. It was a Saturday, that much I could gather… 14th of April, I know that the first dream was on a Friday, so ‘yesterday’, I did air quotes in my mind. The first time that I noticed that it was Saturday was the last dream, where I subconsciously knew that a day had passed. The thing that I noticed the most about that dream was that I had woken up… So maybe I progress a day when I wake up? I kept walking around the house and ended up by the front door. If that is the case I just need to figure out what causes me to move forward a day. I can’t think of anything specific that would have caused it.

I let the door swing open reveal a small pathway through an open garden that leads out to the river walkway. I leaned against the doorway and watched the lights on the opposite side of the river, a few people were walking past along with one or two bikers. I study the faces of each one of them. In dreams, you re-use the faces of people that you know right? If nothing else, dream characters should either be like shadowy figures or have familiar characteristics, I think? I once more focused on the people walking passed… I don’t recognise any of them, a man with long dark hair, a woman walking a dog that I don’t know the breed of, and a couple that look to be about a year younger than me, none of which faces look familiar. I sigh, as something catches my attention; Smoke. It was coming from the bridge. A small explosion could be seen and then another, but this time it was closer to our side of the river. I squinted and tried to see what was causing it. Another pillar of smoke, even close now. I ran inside and into the kitchen, if this was like the kitchen at home, then there should be a pair binoculars in one of these draws. I ripped out the draws in a hunt for the binoculars and finally found it in the drawer next to the fridge. I grabbed them and ran up to the balcony again.

I could now see something moving on the bridge, and as I adjusted the focus of the binoculars I could finally make out what that thing was. A large dragon-like creature, covered by black. It looked like the same creature from the previous dream. 

“Shit.” Another small explosion occurred as the monster tore through a car that was abandoned on the highway. Ok, ok, I still have a few minutes before it would get here, if it is here it is heading, but who am I kidding, of course it would head here. I don’t want to do anything without thinking it through, however, since that could lead to an even worse dream.

I took a deep breath, and sat down with my back leaning against the balcony. Okay first; should I leave and try to avoid it, or should I stay in the house and hide? Hiding in the house didn’t seem to help too much last time, and as far as I can gather from previous dreams, like the school one, staying and dying only leads to it repeating, with few to no changes. Which won't cause me to move forward, and that is what I want to do, I think… so, it seems like I should leave, but where should I go? Wherever I go things would become twisted and distorted, so there isn’t really a ‘safe’ option. I cover my mouth with my hand deep in thought and a large shadow in front of me caught my attention. Fuck. I still did not dare to move, well at least now I will get a better understanding of my hypothesis and whether it’s right or wrong… dammit. I sat there for a long time, and the shadow did not move on, but I could hear a clear half growling half heavy breathing behind me that is definitely from something large. I wonder why I didn’t hear it approaching, maybe I was just too deep in thought or maybe its some dream logic nonsense. 

I sat there for another few minutes and I could feel my clothing getting soggy from the liquid that was dripping down over me, probably saliva. I sat there letting my grey striped shirt get soaked. After what had probably been at least 20 minutes I was still just sitting there, ugh. My body had started aching, and I wanted to change position from this extremely uncomfortable one, will this thing never leave? As if it had heard my thoughts the beast moved, but not to leave. Instead, I suddenly saw the flash of a claw and then there was an impact from above. The balcony itself was torn from its connection with the house and turned into ruble, and I fell to the ground with it, and the monsters silver claws followed us down, crushing me underneath it.

Chapter 8: Parties and Shadows

 

An encounter with a Friend

I blinked myself into consciousness and gazed around. I looked up from the concrete floor, to see that I was standing in the middle of the small courtyard that I had woken up in before. So I was right, then this time everything should play out as it did before the monster attacked, that’s good, then I can plan out my next move better. 

“Amari, what are you doing just standing out there?” I turned around, as expected it was mom. 

“Nothing” I walked towards her, and she stepped out of the doorway to let me in. 

“We are going to Riverside Oak to grab a bite to eat, do you want to come with?” this is all the same.

“No, I’m good,” before mom has a turn to answer I keep talking, “I’ll just grab something from the kitchen, I need to do some homework either way,”

“If you say so,” she smiles and then she left. I walked around and looked into the rooms that I did not get a chance to look into before, and I find my room among them. It was just as it should be, the sloppy stacked bookshelf and the messy desk. I walked to the desk and a card with blue and red glued on stripes catch my attention, I pick it up and immediately recognised it, it’s the invitation to Lucienne’s birthday party. I heard a knock on the door and saw mom in the opening. 

“We are leaving now,” she walked into the room and gave me a kiss. “What’s that?” I looked at the card in my hand.

“Oh, well, it’s an invitation to Lucienne’s birthday,” mom look at it

“It’s for today,” she commented, 

“Yeah well, I wasn’t planning on going,” I said, 

“Why not? Have you had a fight or something?” she asked worryingly 

“No, nothing like that, but she was sick yesterday so I don’t think that she will want to still have it.”

“Maybe you should send her a text to make sure,” mom suggested, “I saw your phone on the living room table,” she gave me a kiss and I followed her downstairs. The table didn’t have anything on it but I knew that I had seen it the first time around, the realisation made me look in my pocket and I found the phone in it. I made a mental note about the finding but choose to make me focus on the now rather than the previous dreams, I sent Lucienne a few text.

_“Hey,” “Are you feeling better?” “Are you still planning on having your Birthday party or are you moving it?”_

I spent the time waiting for an answer on the balcony with my binoculars, trying to see if the monster was on its way. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and pulled it up.

“ _Yah, sorry about that, I’m still having the party_ ” “ _Yes I feel better,_ ” “ _It was just a headache and stomachache, it’s gone now,_ ” 

“ _That’s good, well I’m glad that you feel better,_ ” 

“ _See you,_ ” 

“ _Bye_ ” 

“Well?” mom asked from behind me,

“She is still having it,” 

“You want to go?” she asked and I thought about it for a second and turned back to look at the bridge. A large pillar of smoke emerged from it. I will have to leave at one point or another, so I might as well.

“Yah, could you drive me?” I ask, they were planning on going to the restaurant but it only takes around 10 minutes to drive to her house, 5 from here, since we are closer than I’m used to.

“Sure, will you be ready in 5?” I nodded,

“Could we make that 2? I just need to grab my jacket,” I said, not relying on the monster taking much more time than that to show up. I hadn’t really timed it last time, but I wanted to go as soon as possible. I speed walked to my room and grabbed a thick dark grey blackish jacket along with a black pair of running shoes. I took of my normal shoes and got dressed for leaving. I ran downstairs and followed my mom to the car. 

Mom started driving and I leaned back in the seat, five minutes later the car turned on to a gravel road, which was surrounded by a forest. The hell? I sat up in the seat, as we continued into the forest the light got dimmer, and the trees got thicker.

“Mom, where are we going?” I asked worriedly, turning towards her.

“What do you mean? We are going to Lucienne, right?”

“Yeah, but this isn’t the right way… is it?” mom looked at me with a confused look.

“I’m taking the way I always take,” Oh, I guess she is.

“Right, sorry, I just didn’t recognise it,” I’m just going to assume that it’s right, according to this dreams rules anyway.

Another few minutes passed before we pulled up next to an old, big forest mansion. What’s with Lucienne having giant houses in my dreams? The car parked next to another set of cars and I got out.

“Have fun now, sweetie” mom said through the window, and I turned around and waved at her as I walked towards the house. I knocked on the front door and took a step back waiting for the door to open. An older woman opened the door and greeted me. I gave mom a final wave, and as she started the car again, and drove away. I got invited in and we walked to the main living room. There were a lot of other people here, Masha, Ashley, Tiffany, Grace, Bertha, Laurene, Rosaline. In another corner, some other people were hanging out, like Ethan, Lucas, Kenneth, Travis and Liam. I gave them a short wave as I entered. I don’t see Lucienne, but as I thought that I heard her calling,

“Satan!” I turned and saw her walking out of a doorway towards me. She smiled with open arms and I gave her a hug when she came close. 

 “Happy Birthday,”

“Hey, thanks.” She let go and I did the same “There is pizza and chips over there, if you want them,” she pointed towards a table on the other side of the room. “Take whatever you want,” 

“Will do,” I gave her a thumbs up, “how are feeling anyways?” I asked

“Much better, I got some sleep yesterday, and then I was fine,”

“That’s good,” I was about to keep talking when Alia came up and took Lucienne’s attention, so I walked over and took a piece of pizza, and a cup of soda instead. Okay, so, what do I do now? I am in another part of a dream, a judging by how things have been turning out previously, something is going to happen, the question is just what. Just based on stereotype, a party in a mansion in the middle of a dark wood, where the attendance are teenagers, I would have to guess either some cursed spirit haunting and murdering everyone, some random psychopath happen to have their way past and murders everyone, or this is a plan by one of the people invited to murder everyone who has wronged them or something. I sat on a chair, with my pizza and studied the people around me. Not that I think anyone would do anything like that, but judging by the fact that Alia’s dad had a jet plane that he landed in school, and that Lucienne apparently own a 5 star hotel and mansion in the middle of the woods, and all the other f'ed up shit, I wouldn’t doubt someone turning into a murderer, like Masha turned into a zombie. Right that happened, had almost forgotten about that. I took a bit of the pizza as I saw Lucienne wave me over, so I stood and followed her.

We walked out onto the balcony that hung over the edge of a steep hill. I looked down to only to see rocks and trees.

“You want anything?”

“No, not really, just became too crowded over there,” 

“Weren’t you the one who invited them?” I asked and finished of the pizza. She shrugged but didn’t answer. We stood there in the cold and after a moment of silence we started to chat about random topics. The people inside didn’t seem to miss us so we stayed outside. I leaned on the balcony and looked over the edge, and Lucienne did the same, as we continued talking. I started to relax, even though I knew that it was probably stupid to let my guard down, but I didn’t feel like being on edge either. If something happens it happens.

After another 10 minutes or so, Lucienne suggested that we should head in since the cake would soon be brought out. I agreed, and we turned to go inside again. A dark shadow stood behind us in the doorway. The two of us flinched back and a long arm shot out from the thing and wrapped around Lucienne’s throat as if the arm had been made out of rubber. 

“Lucienne!” I called and moved towards the shadow, but it just threw its other arm forward caught me around the waist. As it lifted me up into the air I struggled to pry the wrap open with my fingers, but it didn’t budge. Lucienne clawed on the arm around her throat and tried to get support from the balconies railing to keep herself from being strangled. The shadow swung Lucienne to the side before it took charge and flung her over the balcony and into the forest. 

“Lucienne!” I screamed before the thing lifted me up in the same way. I kicked at it and sunk my nails into the arm. “Let go of me you fucker!” I screamed before it hurled me over the balcony as well. I closed my eyes as I flew into the mist of the trees. My breath was knocked out of my lungs as my back slammed into a tree, and I could hear something break as my momentum was abruptly stopped and I fell back down towards the ground. I tried to lift myself off the soggy ground but I couldn’t make my shaky arms raise my body more than a centimetre. I started to cough and collapsed again. 

“Fuck,” I mumbled. Most of my body felt numb. I looked at the ground in front of me, trying to stay focused. The ground was bloody, and I realised that my mouth tasted like blood as well. I moved my arm to try and lift myself up again, but instead, I ended up feeling something soft in front of me. I stiffly turned my neck to see what it was and realised that it was Lucienne. I moved my hand from her shirt on to her bare hand, it was still warm. My vision got blurry, and I lost conscienceless.


	8. Parties and shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An encounter with a Friend  
> Parties and shadows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So chapter 8 is done.  
> Hope you enjoy it.
> 
>  
> 
> Side note:  
> I will be going back to previous chapters and do some language corrections but I wanted to update before I do that. Chapter 1 has already been edited and I did some changes to the end of that.

I blinked myself into consciousness and gazed around. I looked up from the concrete floor, to see that I was standing in the middle of the small courtyard that I had woken up in before. So I was right, then this time everything should play out as it did before the monster attacked, that’s good, then I can plan out my next move better. 

“Amari, what are you doing just standing out there?” I turned around, as expected it was mom. 

“Nothing” I walked towards her, and she stepped out of the doorway to let me in. 

“We are going to Riverside Oak to grab a bite to eat, do you want to come with?” this is all the same.

“No, I’m good,” before mom has a turn to answer I keep talking, “I’ll just grab something from the kitchen, I need to do some homework either way,”

“If you say so,” she smiles and then she left. I walked around and looked into the rooms that I did not get a chance to look into before, and I find my room among them. It was just as it should be, the sloppy stacked bookshelf and the messy desk. I walked to the desk and a card with blue and red glued on stripes catch my attention, I pick it up and immediately recognised it, it’s the invitation to Lucienne’s birthday party. I heard a knock on the door and saw mom in the opening. 

“We are leaving now,” she walked into the room and gave me a kiss. “What’s that?” I looked at the card in my hand.

“Oh, well, it’s an invitation to Lucienne’s birthday,” mom look at it

“It’s for today,” she commented, 

“Yeah well, I wasn’t planning on going,” I said, 

“Why not? Have you had a fight or something?” she asked worryingly 

“No, nothing like that, but she was sick yesterday so I don’t think that she will want to still have it.”

“Maybe you should send her a text to make sure,” mom suggested, “I saw your phone on the living room table,” she gave me a kiss and I followed her downstairs. The table didn’t have anything on it but I knew that I had seen it the first time around, the realisation made me look in my pocket and I found the phone in it. I made a mental note about the finding but choose to make me focus on the now rather than the previous dreams, I sent Lucienne a few text.

_“Hey,” “Are you feeling better?” “Are you still planning on having your Birthday party or are you moving it?”_

I spent the time waiting for an answer on the balcony with my binoculars, trying to see if the monster was on its way. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and pulled it up.

“ _Yah, sorry about that, I’m still having the party_ ” “ _Yes I feel better,_ ” “ _It was just a headache and stomachache, it’s gone now,_ ” 

“ _That’s good, well I’m glad that you feel better,_ ” 

“ _See you,_ ” 

“ _Bye_ ” 

“Well?” mom asked from behind me,

“She is still having it,” 

“You want to go?” she asked and I thought about it for a second and turned back to look at the bridge. A large pillar of smoke emerged from it. I will have to leave at one point or another, so I might as well.

“Yah, could you drive me?” I ask, they were planning on going to the restaurant but it only takes around 10 minutes to drive to her house, 5 from here, since we are closer than I’m used to.

“Sure, will you be ready in 5?” I nodded,

“Could we make that 2? I just need to grab my jacket,” I said, not relying on the monster taking much more time than that to show up. I hadn’t really timed it last time, but I wanted to go as soon as possible. I speed walked to my room and grabbed a thick dark grey blackish jacket along with a black pair of running shoes. I took of my normal shoes and got dressed for leaving. I ran downstairs and followed my mom to the car. 

Mom started driving and I leaned back in the seat, five minutes later the car turned on to a gravel road, which was surrounded by a forest. The hell? I sat up in the seat, as we continued into the forest the light got dimmer, and the trees got thicker.

“Mom, where are we going?” I asked worriedly, turning towards her.

“What do you mean? We are going to Lucienne, right?”

“Yeah, but this isn’t the right way… is it?” mom looked at me with a confused look.

“I’m taking the way I always take,” Oh, I guess she is.

“Right, sorry, I just didn’t recognise it,” I’m just going to assume that it’s right, according to this dreams rules anyway.

Another few minutes passed before we pulled up next to an old, big forest mansion. What’s with Lucienne having giant houses in my dreams? The car parked next to another set of cars and I got out.

“Have fun now, sweetie” mom said through the window, and I turned around and waved at her as I walked towards the house. I knocked on the front door and took a step back waiting for the door to open. An older woman opened the door and greeted me. I gave mom a final wave, and as she started the car again, and drove away. I got invited in and we walked to the main living room. There were a lot of other people here, Masha, Ashley, Tiffany, Grace, Bertha, Laurene, Rosaline. In another corner, some other people were hanging out, like Ethan, Lucas, Kenneth, Travis and Liam. I gave them a short wave as I entered. I don’t see Lucienne, but as I thought that I heard her calling,

“Amari!” I turned and saw her walking out of a doorway towards me. She smiled with open arms and I gave her a hug when she came close. 

 “Happy Birthday,”

“Hey, thanks.” She let go and I did the same “There is pizza and chips over there, if you want them,” she pointed towards a table on the other side of the room. “Take whatever you want,” 

“Will do,” I gave her a thumbs up, “how are feeling anyways?” I asked

“Much better, I got some sleep yesterday, and then I was fine,”

“That’s good,” I was about to keep talking when Alia came up and took Lucienne’s attention, so I walked over and took a piece of pizza, and a cup of soda instead. Okay, so, what do I do now? I am in another part of a dream, a judging by how things have been turning out previously, something is going to happen, the question is just what. Just based on stereotype, a party in a mansion in the middle of a dark wood, where the attendance are teenagers, I would have to guess either some cursed spirit haunting and murdering everyone, some random psychopath happen to have their way past and murders everyone, or this is a plan by one of the people invited to murder everyone who has wronged them or something. I sat on a chair, with my pizza and studied the people around me. Not that I think anyone would do anything like that, but judging by the fact that Alia’s dad had a jet plane that he landed in school, and that Lucienne apparently own a 5 star hotel and mansion in the middle of the woods, and all the other f'ed up shit, I wouldn’t doubt someone turning into a murderer, like Masha turned into a zombie. Right that happened, had almost forgotten about that. I took a bit of the pizza as I saw Lucienne wave me over, so I stood and followed her.

We walked out onto the balcony that hung over the edge of a steep hill. I looked down to only to see rocks and trees.

“You want anything?”

“No, not really, just became too crowded over there,” 

“Weren’t you the one who invited them?” I asked and finished of the pizza. She shrugged but didn’t answer. We stood there in the cold and after a moment of silence we started to chat about random topics. The people inside didn’t seem to miss us so we stayed outside. I leaned on the balcony and looked over the edge, and Lucienne did the same, as we continued talking. I started to relax, even though I knew that it was probably stupid to let my guard down, but I didn’t feel like being on edge either. If something happens it happens.

After another 10 minutes or so, Lucienne suggested that we should head in since the cake would soon be brought out. I agreed, and we turned to go inside again. A dark shadow stood behind us in the doorway. The two of us flinched back and a long arm shot out from the thing and wrapped around Lucienne’s throat as if the arm had been made out of rubber. 

“Lucienne!” I called and moved towards the shadow, but it just threw its other arm forward caught me around the waist. As it lifted me up into the air I struggled to pry the wrap open with my fingers, but it didn’t budge. Lucienne clawed on the arm around her throat and tried to get support from the balconies railing to keep herself from being strangled. The shadow swung Lucienne to the side before it took charge and flung her over the balcony and into the forest. 

“Lucienne!” I screamed before the thing lifted me up in the same way. I kicked at it and sunk my nails into the arm. “Let go of me you fucker!” I screamed before it hurled me over the balcony as well. I closed my eyes as I flew into the mist of the trees. My breath was knocked out of my lungs as my back slammed into a tree, and I could hear something break as my momentum was abruptly stopped and I fell back down towards the ground. I tried to lift myself off the soggy ground but I couldn’t make my shaky arms raise my body more than a centimetre. I started to cough and collapsed again. 

“Fuck,” I mumbled. Most of my body felt numb. I looked at the ground in front of me, trying to stay focused. The ground was bloody, and I realised that my mouth tasted like blood as well. I moved my arm to try and lift myself up again, but instead, I ended up feeling something soft in front of me. I stiffly turned my neck to see what it was and realised that it was Lucienne. I moved my hand from her shirt on to her bare hand, it was still warm. My vision got blurry, and I lost conscienceless.


	9. Demons and Prayers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The demon of nightmares  
> Demons and Prayers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 9 is done and I have tried to read through and edit it.  
> Hopefully, there aren't that many mistakes.
> 
> Hope you enjoy it.
> 
> (English isn't my first language by the way)

When I became conscious again I was standing with a small group in the forest. Lucienne was there as well and I was still gripping her arm tightly, slowly I let go and focused on my surroundings. There were around 8 other people in the group and a man was standing in front of us talking, as I glanced over my shoulder I saw a large damaged house, it was made out of wood and clearly had not been taken care of as the wood was rotting and covered in specks of moss.

“Everyone understand?” the man in front asked, there was a small pause as everyone nodded, “good, then any questions?” there was another pause as no one raised their hand, so the large man turned around and started to walk down the steep hill, the other 8 followed, while I hung back. Lucienne stayed with me and as I started to walk she grabbed my arm. 

“Amari,” I looked at her, “What the fuck is going on? Where are we? What happened? Where was that other shadow guy?” I didn’t answer and just stared at her.

“You remember that?”

“Of course I do! It happened just a few minutes ago, you think I would forget being thrown off a fucking balcony by a tall shadow man?” she both looked and sounded irritated.

“No, I’m just not used to people knowing previous dreams,” 

“Oh, wow, that’s very specific thank you,” she said sarcastically. 

“Well, I’m sorry. You think I have any more idea than you?”

“Yes, yes I do. You just said that this was a dream, how would you know that if you didn’t know what going on, or at least more than me,” 

“Jesh, calm down,” I looked over at the group, “We should go with them, I’ll tell you what I know on the way,” I motioned to the other kids and started to walk, and Lucienne followed.

“I only know what I have speculated, and it’s nothing set in stone, so don’t quote me on this,” I gave Lucienne a quick rundown on the theory that I had created.

“But you being here, kinda messes that up,” 

“Well I’m sorry, I can always leave, you know,” I gave her a smile, and we continued to walk a couple of meters behind the group. “Do you think they know what’s going on?” she nodded towards them.

“I doubt it, I mean, Masha quite clearly didn’t remember being turned into a zombie. and I mean if people remembered then my parents wouldn’t be so calm, and everyone in school wouldn’t have stayed around for the second zombie attack.” 

“That’s fair” 

“But I guess we can’t call them dreams, cause I doubt we are both lucid dreaming the same dream, and I doubt I wouldn’t have woken up by now, so… yah,” The man in the front had now started talking, but we weren’t paying attention.

“So what do you remember from before this? Like, before the birthday party ‘dream’” I did air quotes with my fingers, and Lucienne seamed deep in thought.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “can’t remember.”

“Do you remember anything about the… the real world, I guess you would call it,” 

“Nope,” she said and broke off a small tree branch that was in her way. I thought about it, well if she didn’t, 

“Maybe that could mean that you are not from the real world, like that you are a character from this world but you have special properties?” It felt mean to say that, and I regretted thinking it out loud.

“I’m not an NPC,” she said, with a hint of being fake offended, and sarcastic. At least I hadn’t made her question her existence. 

“No, more like the main quest NPC,” I said jokingly back,

“That’s more like it,” we chuckled. 

Another few minutes passed in silence, and I took the opportunity to listen to the man in the front to try and see what was going on around here. But what he said made no sense whatsoever, so I gave up.

“For how long are we going to just walk here?” she was right, we had been walking for what felt like an hour, considering that I had been able to explain all that had been going on it had to have been quite some time. I shrugged and pulled out my phone, well it’s 19:47 now, but that doesn’t help me much. 

“What you doing?” 

“Checking the time,” then it hit me, I still have my phone, I unlocked it and went to messages. I stared down at the phone. 

“What’s up?” Lucienne asked and peaked over my shoulder.

“Our messages are gone,” I looked up at her, “The one that we sent before I came to the party,” but I guess that makes sense since we have moved on to a different dream so what happened in previous dreams shouldn’t carry over to other dreams, except for, what would you call it? The inspiration? For the next dream. I sighed, I don’t really know what I was expecting, and I don’t know if it would be better if the messages were there or not. 

“So, what exactly does that tell us?”

“Don’t know,” I gave a defeated shrug, “Guess we’ll see,” we turned our attention to where we were going. We were still walking in the forest and there didn’t seem to be an exit anywhere close.

“Here is were the ancient gods, demanded their sacrifices. Each where beheaded by that stone over there,” The man in front pointed towards a large smooth stone with a pine tree growing next to and partly on top of it. The tree was still small and only about double the size of the stone. If I were to stand next to it, it would just be slightly taller than me. 

“So if this is your dreams like you first thought, then I really worry about you,” said Lucienne

“No kidding,” I gave a short laughed which quickly dies out. There were another five minutes of walking.

“Is it just me or are we going in circles?” I pointed to out left, “See, over there on the hill, it’s the mansion that we started by,”

“I think that you are right, should we try to get out of here?”

“Well, we could try climbing a tree and jumping,” I said jokingly, “death seems to be the only way to move on to new dreams.”

“And again, I worry about you,” Lucienne said again and smiled towards me. I sighed, we were on our way up another hill. 

“I think we should leave,” I said, “If we want to move on to another dream when we need to get to another area,”

“Not that I disagree with you, but I don’t think that there is another area here, it's all just forest,” said Lucienne with a sigh and gestured around her.

“But a forest just randomly appeared in the train dream, so I think that there has to be another area somewhere if just walk one direction long enough,” There was a flash, and I quickly shielded my eyes from the bright light. 

“What was that?”

“Everyone shield your eyes! That is the light from Gormo,” called the man and closed his eyes as he went close to the ground, “If you see it; you are dead, so keep your eyes close,”

“He could have said that sooner,” complained Lucienne,

“Just do what he says,” I said and got close to the ground so that I could feel where I was going and closed my eyes. We continued up the hill. 

“How close do you think we are to the top?”

“Don’t know,” I peaked one eye open, “Another 50 meters,” I said, and I turned to see what the other kids were doing, they had also gone close to the ground and kept their heads down. There was another flash, and I quickly closed my eyes.

“Fuck,”

“What happened?”

“I saw the flash,”

“Oh…,” Something big broke in front of us, and I heard a hissing, despite my better judgement I looked up. Emerging from the trees was a monster. It looked like a Wendigo. Its skin was pale and laid so tight on the bones that you could clearly see their structure. It was not only that but it was big as well if I were to guess it was around 7 meter from toes to head, but it was hard to tell since when it emerged from between the trees it was on all fours, looking like a predator ready to fight. Black hair hung in pieces over its back, shoulders and face, and its mouth went to the edges of the face, with a long tongue hanging out of it. 

“Oh, god,” I took a step backwards, unable to look away. Its cat pupil eyes twitched towards me, and I found myself unable to move. The Wendigo gave out a low hiss, and wrapped its unnaturally long fingers around one of the trees as it moved forward, its long, knife sharp nails dug into the trunk and splintered it. 

“That’s happening?” Lucienne asked panicked,

“We are going to die,”

“What?!” Lucienne opened her eyes and looked at me, then her eyes followed my stare. “What the fuck!?” She stood up and the Wendigo launched itself forward, making itself gain speed by pushing itself of off the tree it was holding. Lucienne tacked me to the ground, as the monster went just above us and landed heavily lower down the hill.

“Don’t just stand there!”

“Sorry,” I said apologetic, as she gave me a hand to stand back up. The Wendigo started to turn around, “Let’s go.” We started to run up the hill.

“You know we won’t get very far right?”

“Jupp,” I said, and resisted the urge to look back, “But if we can get to the house, then there is probably a basement, and that thing is too big to follow,” 

“I guess we could try,” I heard the Wendigo move behind us, wood was breaking and the sound of the steps sounded too fast and like there were too many. I looked back, the wendigo ran towards us like a spider the head hung low towards the ground but it was looking straight at us. The arms and legs were at a weird angle, the legs were out and forward, with the knees way too much to the side and way too much forward, and the elbows were out and went above the head, with the hands still pointing forward. 

Within seconds the Wendigo was right on top of me, and two hands reached out and grabbed me. Its fingers wrapped around me and lifted me up towards its face. I screamed, as its mouth opened up and several lines of teeth became visible. I felt a smaller hand grab my ankles in an attempt to pull me down.

“Amari!” I tried to struggle, but my arms were tightly pressed against my body and the grip around them was not going get looser anytime soon. I felt like my bones were about to break and be turned into dust. I wheezed, it was hard to breathe. The wendigos mouth had split its face open and then it bit down. Lucienne screamed in terror. 

 


	10. The Living That Rot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The life that falls apart  
> The Living That Rot

I opened my eyes, yet again I was standing in a small group in the forest. I was holding Lucienne’s arm, but she just stared emptily in front of her.

“Lucienne?” I asked, that seemed to snap her out of her dase and she collapsed on to her knees and swallowed tightly. “You alright?”

“Do I looked alright?”

“Not really…” I kneeled down next to her, and we sat there for a second. 

“Everyone understand?” said the man in front, “good, then any questions?” 

“We should leave, and try to get out this time,” I said, “I rather not stay here, and since we know we will only go in a circle, and end up dying.” She nodded again, and I helped her stand up. The man and the group started to walk away but we stayed behind. I patted Lucienne twice on her head since I’m usually terrible at comforting.

“Let’s go,” she nodded and we started to walk in the other direction. Lucienne quickly returned to her normal self and didn’t seem to bother about how the previous dream had ended.  Which was good I guess?

We kept walking, and walking and some more walking. We had walked for what felt like half an hour before we saw a small house in the clearing of the wood.

“Ok, we should hold of exiting the wood, for just a second, we don’t know what or who lives there and it might cause another reset. If it does we will just start back further in the forest again, since we haven’t clearly entered a new area yet,”

“Good point, I’d rather not see you die again,”

“Well, that might be a bit more difficult but I agree,”

As we stood around for a while, thinking of whether to enter the house or just walked around it a man came up behind us.

“What are the two of you doing here? This is private property,” he shoved his hands into his pockets and looked irritated.

“Oh, sorry, we got lost in the forest,” I said, and gave a small smile, the man said nothing and just stared us down, there was an uncomfortable silence. “If you could just point us in the direction of civilisation we would be happy to leave,” I continued, wanting to get away from this situation. Being killed over and over but monsters from my nightmares I can handle. It’s a nightly occurrence, with the dreams I normally have, but having to have a conversation like this with a stranger, that is truly a nightmare of nightmares. The man's attitude softened and he pointed with his thumb to the right.

“That way,” I followed where he was pointing but didn’t see a road or anything. “… You need me to walk you there so you don’t get lost again?” Hell no, I want to spend as little time as possible with you. Also following a stranger into the woods, what could go wrong,?Then again, we might not find our way if we were to go on our own, so there is that…

“No, I think we are good,” Lucienne, broke in and ended my train of thought, as I apparently had just been standing there staring into the void.

“You sure?”

“Yah,” she gave him a smile and gave me a push and we walked away. Once we were out of earshot, she breathed out

“Thank god, I did not want to have to be social with a stranger,” I have a small laugh

“I was thinking the same thing before you interrupted. I mean, hey, let's follow this stranger into the woods what could go wrong?”

“Right?”

We walked for some time more, before we came into a clearing in the woods, a small house and…, wait, what?

“Did we go in circles?”

“I guess?” I shrugged, “We are at the front of the house again, so let's try going the way he pointed us in again.” Lucienne nodded and we started to walk again.

After another few minutes, we found entering an opening in the woods, in the opening was a small red house. 

“Well, that didn't work out,”

“Thank you Captain obvious, I can see that,” I muttered irritated in her direction. “Do you think we have to ask the guy?”

“… Let's try one more time, than we ask,” I shrugged and followed her into the woods again, and we ended up where we started… again. “Ok, fine, we ask,” she pouted her and we walked to the door of the small house. We knocked twice and stepped back to make room as the door opened.

“You need help finding the exit?” The man in the doorway asked.

“Yeah, we went the way you told us to but we just ended up back here,” I stood quietly behind Lucienne, to let her do the talking. 

“Well, why did you not say so,”

“I just did,”

“Because I would be happy to drive you two to civilisation,” he smiled and pulled out a car key from his pocket and started to walk down the steps, and I stepped out of the way. “Come along now,” I looked at Lucienne, this was not a good idea. Sighing she shrugged and we walked after him. The car that he was getting into was a red old pickup truck.

“Hey, Lucienne, why did he buy an old car?”

“What?” startled she looked at me “I don’t know?” she answered confused.

“It’s the only one he could afford,” I said grinning as I pointed to the ford signature on the front of the car, Lucienne stopped and stared at me for a second before she moaned and buried her face in her hands. I grabbed the door handle and as I pulled the door open I continued,

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you can handle it but if you can’t that’s too bad because”

“Oh my god, please stop,”

“I will never get tyred,” I pointed at the car's wheels, “of making puns,”

“Ugh,” she started angrily at me and I grinned back, very proud of myself, “I hate you,” she said, in a cold and very serious voice.

“What’s wrong?” I gave Lucienne a light nudge in the stomach with my elbow. She looked like she had snapped out of a trance, “you look pretty exhausted,” I pointed towards the exhaust pipe of the car.

“That one was bad,”

“They were all bad,” I answered and got into the car,

“I liked you better when you were being eaten by demons,” she said and got into the car next to me. The man had said nothing during this exchange, and I learned to the side to get a look at him, but a large crash in the direction of the house caught my attention. The house was now nothing but rubble, what had looked old before was now falling apart. The red paint had peeled off only leaving small patches here and there. Only one of the walls were standing the rest had collapsed or was only partially standing. The wood that could be seen was dry and started to rot, and the roof was no more.

“… Lucienne,” I pointed “Look,” she turned around as well, then back to me before turning back to the house. She opened her mouth,

“To civilisation,” said the man, interrupted whatever Lucienne had been about to say, Our attention shifted to him, the car started to move and turned around to reveal a small road leading out of the woods.

“That wasn’t there before, right?” Lucienne shrugged and looked worried. I gave one glance back to the crumbled house before I looked forward. The car rolled in front of a large parking lot, with a large building.

“Looks like we moved on from outside the forest,” I commented as the man continued to drive through the empty lot. 

“You know, it’s fine if you let us off here, now that we are out of the forest I think we will be fine. Thank you for your help.” There was no answer and he just continued driving, “Hello?” Lucienne grabbed the man’s arm, only to give out a scream as it fell off, she dropped it and it fell to the ground, the arm, or more accurately the bones of the arm fell out of the sleeve which was now torn. The hand's bones scattered on the floor.

“What the actual fuck!” she screamed before, the car started to sway. I moved forward and grabbed the steering wheel, knocking over the former man, now skeleton. I turned the wheal but nothing happened. A large truck came driving out of one of the storage houses, and it didn’t stop just because it saw us. Instead, it just honked it’s horn and continued to drive forward. I pulled on the weal some more but it still didn’t have any effect. We screamed as the truck rammed the small car, and sent it flying.

As the car landed, I could hear a long, flat, piercing mechanical note in the background.

 


	11. Chapter 11 : Another Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Concerts for those lucky enough  
> Another Day

I woke up laying on something hard, and there were voices around me. I could still hear that sound but this time it, instead of being one long note, there were several at even intervals. As the sound faded I opened my eyes and looked around. I was lying on a park bench, people were walking around me talking, and laughing. I sat and looked around. The building in front of me was large, and had a glass door entrance, like the house that we had passed with the car in the previous dream. I pulled out my phone from my pocket and checked the lock screen, 15th of April, Sunday. A day had passed.

“Makes sense, I did wake up. Still don’t know why a day has passed through,” I turned around and scanned the people around me, “Lucienne?” I heard a groan behind the bench I was sitting on.

“5 more minutes,” she muttered. I sighed in relief as she pushed herself up using the backrest. “Where are we?” she asked and looked around in confusion.

“We have moved dreams,” I said and pointed towards the large building, “recognise that building? It’s the one we passed right before our car collided with the truck.” 

The building in question now had a large banner across the top displaying several bands and some kind of trademark or something that I hadn’t seen before.

“So I’m assuming this is some kind of concert or something similar to that.” Lucienne nodded and we walked up to the door and were immediately stopped by security.

“Ticket,”

“Oh, I,” I reflexively dragged my hands over my pockets and pulled out a folded piece of paper, as I unfolded it I saw that it was indeed a ticket. The security guard took and stamped it.

“Here you go,” she said, “have fun,” 

“Thank you.” I looked at Lucienne, “You got one?” I asked as she rifled through every pocket she had.

“Umm…” she turned her front jeans pockets inside out and a piece of paper fell out, “Yes!” she handed the paper to the guard, who stabled it and we entered the building.

I looked at Lucienne and notice that she was no longer wearing the black top and skirt. Instead, she was wearing, a thick red and white squared shirt and black jeans. I looked down and saw that, although I was still wearing the same pair of jeans, now had a thin dark blue hoodie and a red jacket.

“Our clothes changed,” I noted, and Lucienne noted the change as well.

We entered a large concert hall, which was packed with people. A band was setting up, and one man in the very front was doing some solo singing as things were moved behind him.

“Do you think that we should go and sit down? I mean we are,” I started but Lucienne let out an excited scream before I could finish.

“Oh My God! Do you recognise them?” she asked beaming with excitement, and she hugged before tugging my arm towards the stage.

“No…” I answered hesitantly but was ignored. 

“It’s BTS!” As Lucienne continued to fangirl over the band, I looked around to try and understand what this was. For some reason, this dream felt more unsettling than a lot of the other dream. If just feels so… cosy might not be the right word for it, but I can’t think of anything better. The stage was brightly lit with colours, and the people setting up all seemed to be in a good mood. It felt like the dream when I woke up at home, only now I know that this is still a dream. After doing a short inspection of the general area I walked back to Lucienne who was starting to calm down.

“I guess, we should go ahead and _play along_ ,” I said, “it doesn’t really seem like there is anything to do here, there is a door over by the far wall but it’s locked or something, so we’ll just have to wait until something happens or until we figure something out.” Her eyes lit up again, and I regretted saying anything as she went into another hysteric outburst of happiness. I buried my face in my hand, and we went and took a seat. I continued to think about what our next move should be.

The door to the outside opened, and a crowd of people walked in and took their seat. The band had finished setting up and started with their show. I leaned my head on my hand, so where could we go? Logically, since we are by some stronge or concert hall, the things that should be around us would be a city, or possibly, just a highway or something similar. I also need to get a grip on what triggers a location change. This time was pretty obvious, but I want to know what small changes can affect the dream. Like, did leaving the outside area to the concert area change something? It might have. It was a change of location, but it was not a large change of location. In that case, going into The Blossom from The Branch change location. However, that would still be in the school, this would have changed the location from not in the concert too in the concert… I rubbed my forehead, this theoretical thinking wouldn’t really get me anywhere, but I guess it would still let me have a somewhat better understanding of things… maybe? Ugh, I just want to get back to reality. The person on the stage call something, and I started to pay attention. Someone behind us stood and waved, and everyone started to cheer. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Concerts weren’t really my thing, and I don’t listen to BTS either so I can’t really say that I care… Now that I think about it, I don’t listen to any specific band at all, I mostly just listen to nightcore, which can be from anywhere. The man that had stood up now ran to the stage, and jumped up next to the person who I assume is the lead singer. Another member entered from the locked door that I had noticed earlier, and he too ran up on stage. They said something in a language I didn’t understand and then started to sing. 

What felt like an hour later and several songs, everyone started to pack up and leave, so I stood as well. A hand grabbed my arms, and I froze only to realise that it was Lucienne. 

“They aren’t done yet,” she said, “there are still two songs left,” I looked at her and then turned back to the rest of the crowd that was leaving.

“But, everyone else is leaving,”

“Well, they are stupid,” she simply said and turned back to the concert, ready to ignore any further comment. I sighed and sat, arguing wouldn’t do us any good, and it’s not like I have an idea of what to do next. I looked at Lucienne, again I could see her side glancing at me, and smiling smugly. I looked at the band and they seemed to be looked at each other with confused looks on their faces as more people left. By the time they were done, Lucienne and I were the only people left in the hall. The group started to pack up again, and we walked to go and talk by the entrance.

“So, now that you have had your fun, why don’t we figure out what to do next?” I asked and Lucienne nodded. I jumped up on one of the tables that were in the back and we started to do some planning. We didn’t get far, before a guy and a girl walked up to us. They both looked older than us, maybe a couple of years? The girl started to talk, what can only be described as a bitchy attitude and I immediately disliked her.

“The two of you know you’re in the way right?” she asked,

“The band wants to pack up, and go home, but you are still here,” added the guy, “so get lost,” Lucienne and I looked at each other, and I shrugged. 

“Sorry, we didn’t realise, we’ll leave,” I said, and gestured to Lucienne to come with. 

“You didn’t realise?” the girl said in a mocking tone.

“What are you dense or something?” The two of them laughed and irritated I ignored them and walked into the room that was next to the concert hall.

“What bitches,” Lucienne said, and I nodded in agreement.

“The kind you just want to sucker punch in the jaw,” I smiled, and shrugged, being annoyed over it wouldn’t help. I would still be, but it won’t help.

“Why didn’t you?” Lucienne suddenly asked I looked at her in confusion. She blankly starred back. 

“What do you mean? Of course, I didn’t.”

“This is your dream isn’t it?” she said with the same emotionless expression, putting extra emphases on your, “you can do whatever you want, can’t you? It’s not like you will suffer any consequences from doing so,”

“We don’t know that there could be some unforeseen consciences, like more violent deaths of something,” Lucienne blinked and her eyes for back some light in them.

“You mean getting your head bitten off by a demon, thrown off a balcony by a cliff into a forest and getting hit by a truck, are not violent deaths? Not to mention the ones I wasn’t even there for.” She looked questioning at me, “being a pacifist hasn’t really worked in your favour this far,” she shrugged. Well, she is not wrong, death by zombies, death by drowning, death by being crushed by a train, death by giant claw, death by being crushed by a claw, death by being thrown of a balcony, and consequently breaking my back by hitting a tree, death by demon and now death by truck. Not exactly the best track record. Then again, I haven’t… The door opened and the two bitches from before walked in. Great…

“You two still here?” they asked, mockingly.

“Of course we are, we are allowed to be,” Lucienne said

“No, you are not,”

“Says who?” Challenged Lucienne.

“Says we,” said the guy,

“And, who are you exactly? What gives you the right to tell us what to do?” I hung back, as the three of them argued because I didn’t feel like getting involved. If it was up to me I’d just have had us leave, we need to find a way out of this dream area. But clearly this wasn't up to me, so I’ll let life take its course. That is until the girl threw a punch towards Lucienne, I reacted. The second after her punch hit Lucienne square in the face I grabbed her head and slammed it into the doorway behind them. The guy startled and looked at me terrified before he got angry, and went for an attack. I took a step forward grabbed his wrist from the side, and wrapped one hand around his throat. Holding his throat at arms length, I dipped him down like the dance move. I held that position for a second before I let him go and he hit the ground. I straightened up and turned towards Lucienne.

“We should probably leave now,” I said, and opened the door, 

“Dam,” was Lucienne only response. I turned towards the door again and started to walk out.

“Amari!” Lucienne suddenly called but before I could do anything to react something smoothly went through my throat. Liquid trickled down my neck and throat and was then absorbed by my hoodie. I tried to gasp for air, as the blade was pulled out, but everything was just blood. I started coughing, and I could hear a struggle behind me, as Lucienne was calling something and something else, soft and heavy hit the ground. My vision got fuzzy and all I could see was the blurry red that was spreading on the floor. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this is somewhat interesting to read, I have written quite a bit of the story so far and I think that this will be one of the few stories that I will actually finish.   
> So far I have 22 planned chapters, but depending on how long or short some are that number might increase or decrease. I know at least one chapter that might have to be split in two, but we will see. I might also get some inspiration that will increase the number of chapters.
> 
> The events that happen are really weird but I would like to know what anyone thinks of it, so feel free to leave a comment or something.  
> I hope it isn't written to awkwardly or become too boring.


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